Facebook Slams Gallup Poll

Facebook Inc. objected to a Gallup poll questioning whether or not it's worth advertising on its social network.

The polling firm wanted to determine whether social media advertising in general is beneficial, so it asked the question as part of its annual report on consumer behavior, Business Insider said.

Gallup said 62 percent of those surveyed "said ads on Facebook and Twitter do not influence the purchases they make," according to Business Insider.

Facebook earns $10 billion a year through advertising according to Business Insider.

“The only thing this poll shows is that self-reported behavioral data is unreliable. For decades, studies that look at people’s actual, real-world behavior have shown that ads on all mediums, including social media, affect the things people buy," a Facebook spokesperson said by email, the site reported. Business Insider did not identify the spokesperson.

"The most successful marketers in the world don’t just take our word for it when it comes to ad effectiveness, they’ve asked us to prove that our ads work. And we have. Those marketers hold us to a very high standard; we look at actual changes in attitudes and behaviors using experimental design — the same approach used in medical trials."

According to the Gallup poll, people come to socialize on social network sites and tune out the advertising there, Business Insider reported earlier.
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